Redding, California Public Records

The deadline falls 15 days before Election Day, though conditional voter registration allows eligible citizens to register and vote provisionally during the 14-day period before and including Election Day at designated locations. Registration requires a California driver license or ID number, or the last four digits of a Social Security number, along with residential address and attestation of eligibility. The city operates under a council-manager form of government with a five-member City Council elected at-large to four-year staggered terms, plus a separately elected mayor serving a four-year term. Municipal elections occur in November of even-numbered years, consolidated with statewide general elections. The next City Council election will include seats in November 2026, with candidate filing periods typically opening in July and closing in August. Local ballot measures, including city tax measures, bond issues, and charter amendments, appear on the ballot when placed by the City Council or through citizen initiative. Residents can look up their assigned polling place, verify registration status, and view sample ballots at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov or through the Shasta County elections website. California automatically sends every registered voter a mail ballot for each election approximately 29 days before Election Day. Voters may return mail ballots via postage-paid envelope (must be postmarked by Election Day), at official drop box locations throughout Shasta County (until 8 p.m. On Election Day), or at any Vote Center during early voting or on Election Day. The county also operates Vote Centers where voters can register, receive replacement ballots, vote in person, and obtain accessible voting equipment; centers open at varying schedules beginning several days before Election Day. In the November 2024 presidential election, Shasta County reported approximately 65-68% voter turnout among registered voters, with the area historically trending conservative in partisan elections. Public election records available under California law include voter registration lists (available to candidates and committees under restricted use provisions), campaign finance disclosure reports filed by candidates and ballot measure committees (searchable at cal-access.sos.ca.gov for state races and locally for city candidates), candidate declarations and statements, precinct-by-precinct election results, and ballot measure language. The county Elections Office publishes detailed results by precinct and voting method on its website following each election. For the November 3, 2026 general election, voters in Redding and throughout Shasta County will decide several key races. At the federal level, one of California's U.S. Senate seats (Class III) will be on the ballot as the term expires in January 2027. At the state level, California Governor Gavin Newsom's term expires in January 2027, making the 2026 gubernatorial election a major statewide contest; all 80 California State Assembly seats will be on the ballot (two-year terms), and half of the 40 State Senate seats (four-year terms) will be contested including districts covering Shasta County. Local races will include County Supervisor seats (the five-member Board of Supervisors serves four-year staggered terms, with Districts 2, 4, and 5 likely up in 2026 depending on the regular rotation), the County Sheriff (four-year term), and potentially other county offices such as Assessor, Auditor-Controller, Clerk-Recorder, District Attorney, and Treasurer-Tax Collector depending on term schedules. School board elections for the Shasta County Board of Education and various local school districts also appear on the November ballot in even-numbered years. City Council races will be determined by the regular rotation schedule. Voters should check the county Elections website beginning in summer 2026 for the official list of candidates and ballot measures.